Managing Driver Absences

Absences record when a driver is off work - holiday, sickness or anything else. They matter for two reasons: drivers with an approved absence do not have schedules generated automatically, and annual leave is counted against each driver's yearly allowance so you always know how much they have left.

This article covers viewing absences, setting up absence reasons and allowances, and adding an absence. On TransMaS Plus, new absences may also need approval - see Absence Approvals.

How to view absences

Monthly calendar - click Absence in the left-hand menu, then Absence Calendar. Each staff member has a row and each day of the month a column. Weekends are highlighted in blue and bank holidays in pink, half days are shown as split cells, and each absence shows the short code of its reason - hover over it to see the reason in full. On TransMaS Plus, the dropdown in the top right filters the view to All Staff, Drivers Only or Office Staff Only.

Weekly view - the Driver Roster (Scheduling > Driver Roster) shows absences alongside shift patterns for a two-week window.

Annual summary - click Absence, then Driver Summary. Each driver has a row showing their Allocation, Booked, Taken YTD, Available and Other figures for the year. A driver who has booked more than their allocation is highlighted in red. Use the arrows at the top to move between years.

By driver - click a driver's name on the calendar or the summary. Their detail screen groups absences into Pending, Approved and Cancelled & Rejected, with a yearly holiday summary on the right. To cancel an absence, click the red X at the end of its line.

Absence reasons

Every absence has a reason, and the list of reasons is your company's own. To manage them go to Settings, then Absence Reasons (you need the Absence Reasons permission). Each reason has:

A label - the full name shown on screens and in emails.
A code - up to five capital letters, shown on the calendar and roster.
Counts as Annual Leave - when ticked, absences with this reason are deducted from the driver's yearly allowance. Leave it off for things like sickness or unpaid leave.
Driver selectable - when ticked, drivers can choose this reason when requesting leave from the app.

Reasons you no longer use can be archived - existing absences keep the reason, but it cannot be picked for new ones. For the full walkthrough see Managing Absence Reasons.

How to set annual absence allocations

A driver's total allowance for a year is base days + brought forward - paid. There are two places to set it:

On the Driver Summary, click the driver's Allocation figure. A window opens with Base Days, Brought Forward and Paid - update them and save.
On the driver's profile (Settings > Drivers, open the driver), go to the Roster tab. The Absence allowance card shows the same three figures for the current and next year.

The system does not calculate Brought Forward and Paid for you, since not everyone's leave rolls over and the paid amount can differ from what was scheduled. Update these fields once a year.

Your absence year does not have to run January to December - it follows your company's absence year start month, and the summary screens are labelled with the months they cover. For a full explanation of the figures see Understanding Absence Allowances.

How to add an absence

There are three ways to start:

The quick add menu at the top of the screen, then Absence.
Absence in the left-hand menu, then the Add Absence button.
Right-clicking a day on the Driver Roster.

In the window that opens:

Choose the Staff Type - Driver, or Office Staff on TransMaS Plus.
Select the driver (prefilled if you came from the roster or a driver's screen).
Select the Absence Reason.
Pick the date range. Half days can only be for a single day - choose Full Day, AM or PM.
Force Delete Existing Schedules is ticked by default - it cancels any schedules already created for the driver on those dates.

The right-hand side of the window updates as you go. It shows the driver's allowance figures, then one line per day with its own reason dropdown - so a single absence can mix reasons if needed. Bank holidays are highlighted, days that already have an absence recorded are flagged, and the number next to each day shows how many other staff are off that day - hover over it to see their names.

What happens next

If your company is not on TransMaS Plus, or you have permission to approve absences for this staff member, the absence is approved straight away.
Otherwise the window tells you the absence needs manager approval, and it goes to the Pending Approvals screen.
If the dates clash with an absence already on record, the save is rejected - cancel the old absence first if it is wrong.

Common questions

The driver is still getting schedules even though they are off. Check the absence has been approved - a pending request does not stop schedules being created.

Can I edit an absence? No - cancel it with the red X on the driver's absence screen and add it again with the right details.

Why has the driver's Available figure not gone down? Only reasons marked Counts as Annual Leave are deducted from the allowance, and on TransMaS Plus a request is not counted until it is approved.

Can I book a half day across several days? No - half days are for a single day only. Book the full days and the half day separately.

What does Force Delete Existing Schedules actually do? It cancels the driver's schedules on the absence dates and releases any jobs on them for re-planning. If work on a schedule has already started, it cannot be cancelled this way.

Using the driver roster - the weekly view of shifts and absences.
How Auto-Scheduling Works - how absences affect schedule creation.
Managing Office Staff and Absences - absences for your office team on TransMaS Plus.
Absence Approvals - the approval workflow on TransMaS Plus.
Requesting an Absence from the App - how drivers request leave themselves.
Managing Absence Reasons - setting up your company's reason list.
Understanding Absence Allowances - how the allowance figures are calculated.